OAKLAND, Calif.—The Detroit Tigers had Justin Verlander on the mound, yes. But they still needed to score at least one run to win, and the way their offense had swung the bats through the first four games of the American League Division Series, they were likely to need some help doing so.

The Tigers got that help in the third inning of the deciding Game 5 against the Oakland A’s on Thursday night, en route to a 6-0 victory and a second consecutive trip to the American League Championship Series.

Three Strikes from the Tigers' triumph:

1. Wild assistance

Oakland catcher Derek Norris received his share of bounced pitches in Game 4, courtesy of starter A.J. Griffin and a group of relievers, and he did a nice job of gloving or blocking all of them.

On Thursday, Norris was not so good. With righthander Jarrod Parker on the mound, Norris could not stop two wild pitches in the third inning, leading to Detroit's first two runs.

The first came with Omar Infante on first base after a walk. Parker threw a fastball in the dirt that Norris couldn’t corral quickly enough, and Infante took second. One pitch later, Austin Jackson doubled to left-center field and Infante trotted home. Had Infante been running from first, he would not have scored because A's center fielder Coco Crisp got to the ball back in to the infield quickly.

After Quintin Berry bunted Jackson over to third and with Miguel Cabrera up, Parker threw another fastball in the dirt that allowed Jackson to score easily.

Those runs were enough to doom the A’s.

2. Kings of K

The A’s set an American League record with 1,387 strikeouts in the regular season, and they continued to whiff in this series. Oakland set a franchise record for a Division Series by striking out 50 times in the five games.

Right fielder Josh Reddick struck out 10 times, just one off Bret Boone's ALDS record of 11 for the Seattle Mariners in 2001.

The A's struggles to make contact played right into the strengths of Verlander and Game 4 starter Max Scherzer, who finished first and second in strikeouts, respectively, in the AL. It also led to the A’s hitting .194 for the series.

3. Power punch

When Prince Fielder signed as a free agent with the Tigers in the offseason, Detroit immediately had the most dangerous, intimidating 3-4 combination in the majors with Cabrera hitting third and Fielder hitting cleanup.

The two were mostly quiet in this series, however, going a combined 9-for-41 (.220) with three RBIs and one homer—Cabrera went 5-for-20 and Fielder was 4-for-21. They also drew just two walks in the five games.

This is a small sample size, certainly, so not much should be read into those numbers. Still, the Tigers probably can’t afford to have them stay so quiet in the ALCS no matter if they face the New York Yankees or Baltimore Orioles.